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Rendering
Rendering is the second to last step in the film maker, This takes your scene, And compiles it to .avi, .tga or .wav How to render Simply go to File, Export, Movie For basic rendering, the default options in the Render Dialogue should suffice. Most of the settings are self explanatory such as Start Time, End Time, framerate, etc. Generally, it's best to leave the options at the bottom in the default position. Change the Width and Height if you want to render your video at a higher/lower resolution than 720p. There's several presets for common video sizes such as NTSC and PAL broadcast standards, 360p, 480p (DVD quality), 720p (Default, HD web streaming), and 1080p (HDTV). The default framerate is 24 FPS, but depending on the contents of your film, you might want to raise. The Override Shutter Speed option sets the intensity of the motion blur. On a real 24 FPS camera, each frame would be exposed to light for 1/48. The Source Filmmaker tries to emulate real-world camera techniques by blending the frames together into one image, resulting in more natural looking motion. A higher shutter speed, such as 1/120 of a second, yields less motion blur and more "stuttery" motion. For example, this kind of technique is what made the battle scenes in Saving Private Ryan so crisp and gritty. When you're ready to begin the rendering process, choose your file types, and a file destination and press Export. Now find something to do while you wait. Rendering Tips The fastest way to render a video is to use an uncompressed AVI file. If you select the TGA option, when your movie is done rendering you have to use software like VirtualDub to compile the images into a video file. Using the AVI option just eliminates that step. Don't go overboard with the Progressive Refinement Settings. These significantly increase render times. If you have 32x motion blur, 32x depth of field, and 4x anti-aliasing enabled, that results in 4,096 samples per frame. In other words, the Source Filmmaker has to render 4,096 frames and compile them into one. I benchmarked the time it took to render a single frame on a PC equipped with a GTX 295, i7 920 at 3.7 GHz and 6 GB of RAM. With all Progressive Refinement settings set to the maximum, it took 45 seconds for a single frame. If I was trying to render a 20 clip with these settings it would take upwards of 6 hours to render. Don't upload raw video files to video sites like YouTube. An uncompressed AVI file can reach well over a gigabyte for a 15 second clip. Import your raw file into an editing program like Sony Vegas, Adobe Premiere, or even Windows Movie Maker. You can get a 1 GB AVI compressed down to less than 30 MB without a lot of quality loss. For the best quality with the lowest filesize, convert it to the H.264/x264 codec, or if you don't have that, the XviD codec. Advanced Rendering Tips Advanced Rendering is a bit hard on your PC, so make sure you have enough disk space, especially when you're rendering a long movie with max settings. Step 0a: Before we do begin, you're going to need a certain program to create the actual video with the images and sound file. To obtain this program (VirtualDub), simply go here. Step 0b: You will also need the Xvid codec, found here. NOTE: The codec download is NOT in the right hand corner in Xvid Codec > Downloads. It is under "Looking for the Xvid Codec?" # Launch up Source Filmmaker and create your video. If this is your first time, I'd suggest recording a very short and simple video to refrain from accidentally messing up your lengthy video. # Once you are done, go to File > Export > Movie... # At the very top of the Export Movie window, it requires an Output File location. Select an empty folder other than the Source Filmmaker folder. This is very vital. # Make sure "Output .tga files" and "Output .wav file" is selected, and "Output .avi file" is unchecked. # Adjust the other settings to your liking, and make sure you remember the FPS you chose. Once you are finished, simply hit the dandy Export button and the bottom. 6a. Depending on how long your video is, I'd suggest doing a different activity such as going outside. You probably need it. 6b. : Prevent anything from causing the Source Filmmaker program from failing. This includes trying to access the window or hitting the "Show desktop" button. This can cause Source Filmmaker to mess up your rendering process, such as repeating the same frame over and over, or possibly having the video off-sync. 6c. During/after rendering, check through some of the frames to make sure everything is okay. Doing this while rendering can help spot faults and will at least save you some time to render again. 7.: Once rendering is all done and you have checked a few frames to make sure everything is in order, it is safe to exit Source Filmmaker. 8. Load up VirtualDub and go to Audio > Audio from another file... and select the .wav file Source Filmmaker rendered. 9. Go to File > Open video file... and select the first frame of your video. It will automatically load in the other frames for you! 10. Next, go to Video > Frame Rate.... Under "Source rate adjustment," make sure "Change frame rate to (fps)" is checked and enter in the frame rate your chose in Source Filmmaker when it rendered. 11. Go back to Video and select Compression.... Choose the Xvid Codec and hit OK. It should begin combining the images and sound file together, creating your video! 12a.: We aren't exactly done yet. Once VirtualDub is completed with your video, go to File > Save as AVI... and save it according to your liking. 12b.: Check the .avi to make sure if everything is alright. If the sound is just a bit off-sync, then it should be alright. Unless it bothers you that much, then be my guest and redo all these steps. 13. Load the .avi into a program such as Windows Movie Maker (I'm a cheap bastard) and export the video. Uploading the plain .avi to YouTube is a bitch and takes forever. 14. And you're done! Go ahead and upload your masterpiece to YouTube and post it in the Source Filmmaker thread on Facepunch or another place for publicity. You are now able to render like a champ! ?. If you have any questions or concerns, please post in the thread or PM me on Facepunch. I am The Inzuki there. Or email me at teh_inzuki@hotmail.com ??. Darkomni on Facepunch is the guy responsible for sharing this to me. He knows a lot more than I do, so if you have any other concerns about this, you can drop him a PM too. Known Bugs In some cases, when attempting to render in a higher resolution like 1080p, Source Filmmaker keeps rendering at default settings. This bug could not be solved yet. Category:Known Bugs